Printing presses produce labels in long, uninterrupted strips. Making use of the labels typically involves spooling the labels in long spirals on cylindrical cores.
Present equipment for placing the strips of labels incorporates extensive electronic or, as in U.S. Pat. No. 2,585,226 to P. J. Christman, mechanical components to achieve its proper operation. A strip, after the appropriate number of labels has attached to a core, must be cut. The roller with the full core must then move out of the way. A new core on a further roller must then move into the location where it can receive labels. An operator must then attach the strip onto the new core so that the process may start anew.
Difficulties encountered in accomplishing these goals result from the facts that labels on different strips have different lengths. Further, the speed of the printing press in producing the labels may also vary. Additionally, as the number of labels on a core increases, so does the circumference of the core with its labels; as a result, the force rotating the roller increases which may also unacceptably tighten the strip on the core or even break the strip itself.
The extensive and expensive electronics and mechanics of the equipment currently finding use attempt to compensate for many of these variables. Even still, it nonetheless requires substantial operator attention and skill to achieve its desired results, which may prove difficult even yet. As a result, the search for improved spooling equipment continues.